News : Middle East

INU - Donald Trump and Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman met to discuss the growing threat of the Iranian Regime in the Middle East, at the start of the Saudi Crown Prince’s two-week tour of the US.

The Iranian Regime has greatly exacerbated the ongoing crises in at least three countries Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, but the real number is likely much higher.

Saudi Arabia is most concerned about Yemen, as the Houthis terrorists that Iran is supporting there have been firing Iranian-made ballistic missiles at the Kingdom. This is in response to the Saudi-led Arab coalition to support the internally recognised Yemeni Government.

Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the US, told CNN: “Here’s what [is] happening in Yemen: [Iran is trying to create] another Hezbollah in Yemen, which will not just threaten our security and Yemeni security, but also regional security. We’ve been focusing on the weapon of mass destruction, the WMD. What we should really be focusing on is the MD, the mass destruction that Iran is committing in the region.”

In response to this meeting between Trump and Prince Mohammad, the Iran Lobby in the US – in particular the National Iranian American Council – have been attempting to paint Saudi Arabia as bloodthirsty, warmongering, and a state sponsor of terrorism.

In case that sounds familiar, these are things more appropriately applied to the Iranian Regime. Iran is on the US State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism – as they have been for many years – but Saudi Arabia has moved to identify terrorist cells and work against them.

Still Trita Parsi of the NIAC attacks Prince Mohammad for warning about Iranian extremism and accuses Saudi Arabia of wanting to go to war with Iran, using American troops. This war is something that no one else has even mentioned and most of the US-Saudi talks have been about peace in the Middle East.

This is a well-used tactic by the Iran Lobby; stoke fears and then blame someone else.

Michael Tomlinson wrote on Iran Lobby: “In Parsi’s worldview, the Iranian regime’s sponsorship of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah is not to blame. Nor has been the arming of Shiite militias in Iraq or Houthi rebels in Yemen. Neither can blame be laid at the launching pads of dozens of ballistic missiles fired off by the Iranians, nor their leaders’ threats to blast its enemies out of existence.”

It should be noted that the Iranian Regime is likely seeking to destabilise the Middle East in these ways to distract from their domestic crises. As the Regime is plagued by constant infighting, the Iranian people have taken to the streets to demand regime change. If the politicians around the world want to truly get rid of the Iranian Regime, they must support the Iranian people’s protest.